


Shutter

by digitalAlchemist



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Photographer, Getting Together, M/M, Photographer Lio, Underwear Model Galo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26513374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalAlchemist/pseuds/digitalAlchemist
Summary: “Is this your first underwear shoot?”Lio took a sip of the drink in his hand - his left, Galo noted - and the plastic rim of the cup came away stained slightly grey. The dark liquid inside sloshed around the tumbler, steaming the inside of the glass slightly. Lio liked his coffee black, apparently.“N-No, I’ve done a few so far. Yours?” Galo felt silly the moment the question left his mouth — of course Lio had done this before.Galo is a seasoned model, but finds himself up against a fresh challenge with a new photographer and winds up wading a little deeper than he first expected.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 19
Kudos: 95





	Shutter

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece for the Parallels AU Zine, which I also helped moderate! It ended up being a community effort to bring the zine to life, and raised over $800 for charity whilst it was on sale - which is incredible!
> 
> This fic has been dormant for a while, but I'm still really happy with how it turned out so I hope you enjoy reading it! Lio with piercings and lipstick is a new weakness of mine, oops. A big thanks to [houselesbian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/houselesbian/) for running beta on this for me, your help was absolutely invaluable to making this story as polished as it is!

“Mr. Thymos?”

Galo's head shot up at the mention of his name. "Yes, that's me!" he said, as he threw his hand into the air.

The person who called for him - a tall woman, with sharp eyes behind a sweeping fringe - ticked his name on the clipboard in her hand. “We’re ready for your shoot, if you’d like to follow me.” She held the door open for him and Galo strode through. “My name is Biar, I’m the studio assistant for today. Ready to go?”

Galo nodded, his skin tingling with nerves. “Is there anything I need to know?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, no.” She smiled, tucking her pen behind her ear. “Your photographer for today is Lio Fotia. He’s quite well known, but you’ll have to forgive him if he’s a little… snippy. He’s used to working under tight deadlines, so he’s  _ incredibly  _ efficient.”

Galo hummed, trying to place the name. “Lio… I don’t think I’ve heard of him before. I’ll be on my best behaviour!”

“Advisable, yes.” Biar chuckled quietly. She stopped outside a door marked STUDIO ONE in bright blue letters. 

“You should be finished within a couple of hours, in case you need to make plans for afterwards.” She carded the door open, letting Galo into the room. “This is a very capable team, I’m sure you’ll get on wonderfully.” 

“Thanks!” Galo said as the door clicked shut.

Galo turned around to look for the photographer he’d been booked in with. As he stepped further into the studio Galo saw him — slim, possibly only a little younger than himself, with a degree of litheness to his form. Lio wore black lipstick, the sharp outline stark against the paleness of his face, and his platinum blonde hair was pulled into a neat ponytail that curled into the base of his neck. Lio glanced up, rose pink eyes dilating in the light, and Galo had to look away when they caught his gaze. He didn’t want Lio to think he’d been staring.

“Thymos?”

Galo swallowed, suddenly feeling like he was back at school. “Uh, yeah. Galo Thymos.”

“Is this your first underwear shoot?” 

Lio took a sip of the drink in his hand - his left, Galo noted - and the plastic rim of the cup came away stained slightly grey. The dark liquid inside sloshed around the tumbler, steaming the inside of the glass slightly. Lio liked his coffee black, apparently.

“N-No, I’ve done a few so far. Yours?” Galo felt silly the moment the question left his mouth — of course Lio had done this before.

“Definitely not.” He nodded to a small booth in the corner of the studio, covered in black curtains. “You can change over there.” Lio turned to the side, speaking towards the back of the room. “Gueira, Meis, help me set up lighting.”

A twin cry of “yes boss!” alerted Galo to the presence of two other men in the room. 

Summarily dismissed, Galo walked over to the changing room to survey the day’s outfits. They were the newest range of a fancy designer that he’d heard the name of, but couldn’t afford himself. The underwear was silk; curve-hugging, odour-reducing, with other fancy perks that added some extra zeros to the price tag. As Galo stripped down, he tossed his clothes haphazardly over the rail nearby. He took the first pair of boxers from the table and stepped into them with a content sigh. They really did feel good on his skin.

“Ready when you are, Galo.”

He heard the high-pitched whine of the flashguns powering up and quickly gave his reflection a once over, checking that his hair wasn’t too mussed before he stepped out of the booth. Lio was fiddling with his camera, and when he turned to Galo his eyes trailed across his body. They stopped at the scars covering his arm; Galo curled it against his chest.

“You got a problem?”

“No.” Lio said quietly. “I like unique models.”

Galo paused for a moment, trying to read Lio’s expression. It was a mix of judgement and approval, like he was being tested for potential viewers. “Really?” He asked.

“It attracts attention.”

Galo opened his mouth to speak, but wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He licked his lips and tried again. “How do you want me?”

“Just as you are for the moment while we focus up.” Lio took a test shot,then instructed his team to re-angle the lights before they tried again. “We’ll play it natural — how would you normally stand?”

“Uh, just… like this, I guess.” Galo dropped his right hand against his side, left pressed against his hip. “Is that okay?”

“Good; turn a little away from me and look straight at the lens.” Lio snapped a few shots. He pursed his lips as he checked the laptop screen before taking a few more.

“Can you look off to my right for me?” He pointed up towards one of the tripods holding a light in place, and Galo followed his finger. “Hold that for a moment.” Another few clicks of the shutter. “Looks good; turn around and keep the pose.”

The  _ pop  _ of the flashguns signalled another round of shots, and Galo closed his eyes for a moment whilst the camera was on his back. When he opened them again, one of Lio’s assistants had suddenly appeared in the corner of his vision, holding a chair. Galo hadn’t even heard Lio ask for props.

“Take a seat, Galo.” He placed the chair in the middle of the set, and turned it to face the camera. “If you wouldn’t mind relaxing into the chair and leaning forward a little?” 

The man stepped away again when Lio nodded to him, presumably happy with the positioning. Lio made a vague hand signal, and immediately the overhead lighting rig was dropped a foot lower, covering the set in an almost ethereal glow — Galo had to squint his eyes for a moment to avoid seeing spots. He sat down as instructed, tugging the boxers a little to smooth out the crinkles from his previous posing. “Where do you want me, coach?”

“Legs spread, left elbow on knee. Don’t strain your back leaning too far.” Lio said.

He took more shots, the rhythmic  _ ca-click _ of the camera fading into familiarity as Galo focused on keeping his face straight. Lio motioned to the other assistant, pointing towards the set.

“The backdrop’s fallen out of line Guiera, square it up. Meis, check the incidents and get me a gobo.”

Galo had absolutely no idea what he meant by either of those.

On the plus side, he now had some names for faces; Guiera was the redhead taping fabric back in place, and Meis was the guy who had brought him the chair earlier.

“Look down a little for me.” Lio fell right back into his rhythm after the set was cleared again.

Galo shifted his eyes lower, choosing to concentrate on the sheen of Lio’s pants — they were black leather, but looked so tight that Galo was convinced they’d been sprayed on. He could see every flex of muscle as Lio moved around to take photos.

“And off to the side.”

Quickly tearing himself away from sinful thoughts, Galo glanced over to the door instead; he was ever so thankful the boxers were a bit looser in the front. A minute or two passed, Galo focusing on his breath rather than the idea of flirting with his photographer.

“That’s good for these ones. Pick another pair.”

Galo brought his attention back to Lio, who was already looking through his shots on the camera. “Any preference?”

“Whatever takes your fancy.” He glanced up at Galo, watching as he stood up. “You’re doing great so far, but I’d like to put some emphasis on that arm. See if something pairs up nicely.” Lio's gaze shifted to the scars in question, studying them for a moment.

“Alright, I’ll take a look.”

— ▲ ▼ ▲ —

Several pairs of underwear later, Galo glanced at the clock hanging above the studio door — they’d been shooting for almost two hours. 

“Alright everyone, that’s a wrap.” Lio pulled the camera from around his neck, setting it off to the side. “Nice job Galo.”

Galo beamed a wide smile, stretching his arms over his head with a satisfying  _ pop _ . “Thanks! I hope you got some good photos.”

“I did.” Lio turned away, giving Galo one last glance as he took the camera and began to take out the memory cards inside, eyes hovering over his chest for a little too long.

Guiera strode to Galo’s side, nudging him gently with his elbow. “We’re just gonna get the shots checked; take your time getting changed, we’ll be over at the back.” He gave Galo a thumbs up before turning away, and Galo stepped behind the curtain again to re-dress.

Galo glanced up at his reflection in the tiny mirror taped to the booth. His skin was slick with sweat, a dull sheen in the harsh light of the bulbs surrounding the mirror. His gaze swept over to his arm, deep red slices swirling around his muscles like a whirl of flame — nobody had ever mentioned them before in the context of being “unique”, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He always enjoyed doing shoots, being the center of attention for a little while, but this last little layer of his defenses had finally been stripped from him. His scars were a part of him, and they deserved to be celebrated (if objectified, to a degree), but the feeling of being  _ too _ exposed was gnawing at his mind.

With a heavy sigh Galo grabbed a towel from the bench and wiped his damp body down. He took a huge gulp of water from a glass on the table, before he put his own clothes back on, closing the gaps in his proverbial armour once again. He swiped a hand through his hair, pausing when he spotted a note taped to a small black bag on the table he pulled the boxers from earlier. How had he missed that earlier?

_ Galo, _

_ Please take these as a token of appreciation for coming to the shoot today. _

_ Many thanks. _

Inside the bag were six pairs of the boxers he’d just been modelling in various colours, individually wrapped in branded tissue paper. Galo grinned, carefully resealing the bag; they would make excellent  _ special occasion _ underwear. 

He took another drink of water and a deep breath to ground himself again before stepping out of the booth. “How did I look, Lio?”

“Good.” Lio waved him over to where the crew was sitting in front of a large monitor, cables snaking out of it and into the laptop. It was always jarring seeing his own figure blown up so large. “ You shoot really well.”

“O-Oh, thanks.” He stumbled his words slightly, the complement catching him off guard. “These are some amazing photos, though; I wouldn’t look this good without you guys.”

Galo leant on the table they were crowded around, admiring the shots as Lio scrolled through them. ”I had a lot of fun today.”

“I could say the same.” Lio gave him a faint smile. “It was a pleasure working with you.”

“You too.”

He gave the crew a wave as he left, the crackle of nervous energy finally dissipating as the door shut behind him. Galo thought the shoot went well; there weren’t any immediate problems, and the minor issues that cropped up went by without a hitch. He even got a smile out of Lio, which was apparently something to treasure around these parts.

Biar met him halfway down the corridor, then led him back to the reception area to sign him out. 

“Thank you for coming today, Mr. Thymos,” she said. “I hope everything was to your satisfaction?”

“Absolutely! Thank  _ you _ for giving me the opportunity in the first place.”

“We’ll be in touch if we require your services again, but if there’s anything we can do for you in the meantime,” she produced a business card from her jacket pocket, “don’t hesitate to give me a call.”

Galo gratefully took the business card, sliding into a holder alongside his other agency contacts. “Will do, thanks again!”

“Have a pleasant afternoon, Mr. Thymos. Take care.” Biar gave him a polite bow, which he returned as he left.

“And you!”

Once the cool air of the outside world hit him, Galo couldn’t help the wide grin that tugged at his lips; they might want him back! He was so used to one-off projects that never went anywhere, and despite his rough exterior Lio was an incredibly talented photographer; Galo hoped they’d get to work together again at some point.

— ▲ ▼ ▲ —

A few days later Galo’s phone rang with a call from his agency.

“Are you free next Saturday?”

“I think so.” He sandwiched the phone against his shoulder and grabbed his diary from the coffee table. “Yep, all clear. What’s up?”

“They want you back with Lio. Some fancy suit brand needs promo shots for a new line release, and you were the first person he asked for.”

“Personally?” He paused, suddenly struck by the responsibility of being  _ specifically chosen _ rather than just plucked from a list.

“You made a good impression, it seems. We’re still on a trial with these guys, so consider this another concept shoot. Sounds like we’ve got a good thing going, though.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know how it goes afterwards. Thanks for the call!”

After he hung up, Galo dropped his phone onto the sofa, running a hand across his face. He eyed the vacant slot of his diary, then grabbed a pen and scribbled the appointment in. His writing was a little shakier than usual, and Galo realised that he was nervous — he didn’t want to mess this up, especially since he’d been singled out for the shoot. It was only their second booking together  _ and  _ there was potential for more work with him. He slumped against the back of the seat, throwing his pen onto the table with a sigh. It was going to be a long week of waiting.

— ▲ ▼ ▲ —

When the Saturday finally rolled around, Galo took a deep breath at the front door of the studios before striding through with confidence. He met Biar once more at reception, and she led him back through the corridors to the studio door. 

It was just Lio in the room this time. Galo walked in as he was adjusting an overhead lighting rig; he gave Galo a nod when he noticed his presence.

“Do you need a hand with that?” Galo motioned to the very heavy-looking rack of spotlights.

Lio gave him another once over. “That’d be appreciated.”

Galo stepped over and carefully took the ropes from Lio. While he held them steady, Lio walked back over to his camera. Lio raised it to his eye but immediately lowered it with a sigh. “I need a focus point, and that would normally be you.”

“Oh. Right, yeah.” Galo glanced around the studio space and spotted a half-dismantled mannequin in the corner. “Will that do?” He nodded towards it, and Lio followed his line of sight.

Lio glanced between Galo and the armless plastic body, raising his eyebrow. “Good spot.” He walked over to it, dragged it back towards the middle of the room and set it upright on the marker. “Not ideal, but it’ll do the job.”

“He needs to stop skipping leg day, he doesn’t look anything like me.” Galo laughed at his own joke and managed to pull a quiet chuckle out of Lio.

“Can you lift up a little? The lighting is a bit harsh on the top.”

Galo hauled the rig higher, holding when Lio raised his hand. 

“No support this time?” Galo asked after he’d tied off the rig.

“Meis and Guiera can’t work weekends, so I usually schedule solo shoots for Saturdays. Ones that don’t need two or three people to handle; you just so happened to be booked into a group slot last time.” He cocked his hip, pressing his hand against it, and Galo had to force himself to look away from the curve of his waist. “This shoot will run longer than the last as we have more pieces to run through. I hope you don’t have anything else booked today.”

“I don’t.” He replied. “Same setup as last time?”

“Yes.” He gestured towards the booth at the back of the room. “There are six outfits in there. They’re in order, but you can choose whether to start from the left or the right. We just have to get through them all so pick your favourite and we’ll go from there.”

“Gotcha. See you soon!” Galo gave a cheery wave as he crossed the room to get dressed. He caught a hint of a smile on Lio’s face as he walked past, and laughed quietly; at least the guy seemed to have warmed up to him a little. Stepping into the booth, he saw the suits hung up on a rail. Lio had given him the option of left or right, but Galo felt as though he’d still prefer the sensible route. Reaching up to pull the left-most suit down, he gasped in awe at the weaves of golden thread running through the material, the deep wine-red of the lining — it really was a lovely set, and he felt quite lucky to be given the honour of wearing it.

He returned to the studio floor to find Lio brushing down a fabric backdrop before bending down to secure it on the floor with a generous strip of duct tape. Lio stood up and turned to face him, giving him a quick visual check as he stepped closer; he reached out to adjust Galo’s tie slightly before throwing the roll of tape to the side and picking up his camera once again.

“You’ll have to come in and out of clothes quite a lot for this. The marketers want you in every suit, in every combination. They also want some shots of you a little dishevelled, but we’ll wait until the end for those ones. Potentially shirtless too, if you’re feeling up for it.”

“Do they want me under a waterfall as well?” Galo raised an eyebrow, to which Lio shrugged.

“The shirt-off shots are in the brief, but they're completely optional. See how the mood takes you.” Lio motioned once again to the mark in the centre of the floor, and Galo stepped over to it. “As before, we’ll start natural and get as many shots as we can in each suit before you have to change something on it.”

Galo was as responsive as ever, switching position and pose on a dime with each of Lio’s instructions; he struck up conversation as Lio was lowering the camera to check the first round of shots. “So how did you get into photography, anyway?”

Lio regarded him with a look that Galo took to mean he wasn’t used to subjects trying to chat to him mid-shoot. Galo responded with a smile, and Lio huffed as he raised the camera again to take photos as he spoke.

“My parents bought me a camera when I was younger, maybe 14 or 15. I’d mentioned it to them in passing, and wasn’t expecting to be able to buy one myself for several years, but they saved up and got me a really basic DSLR for my birthday. It was the best thing ever; I took photos of the entire house in the first hour of opening the box.”

Lio went quiet as he went to shoot again but paused before he took the photos, dropping the camera to look at Galo in person. “What about you? What made you want to model?” 

“It… was actually kind of a dare, to be honest.” Galo laughed, a sheepish expression on his face. “Some friends of mine showed me an advert for the agency I’m currently with. They were taking auditions for new models, and my friends helped me fill out the application form.”

“And the rest is history?” Lio pulled the camera up again, motioning for Galo to turn around. “Look over at me?”

“I guess you could say that, yeah.” Galo held still whilst more photos were taken, but his attention started to stray from the middle of the lens. Now that it was just the two of them, Galo had a little more time to focus on Lio and discover things about him that he’d missed the first time round. For one, Lio’s ears were covered in piercings — a lattice of black bars criss-crossed over the top of his ear, while his lobe was adorned with several hanging triangles. They must have been covered with hair before, otherwise Galo would’ve seen them much sooner.

“So, how many piercings do you have all together?” He shouldn’t talk mid-shot, but he couldn’t help himself.

The camera fell, this time with an accompanying smirk. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Lio stuck his tongue out, revealing another two silver beads.

Galo couldn’t help but laugh at the childish gesture, and Lio quickly snapped a couple of shots whilst he was caught off-guard. “Hey, no fair.”

“Sometimes the natural shots are the best.” Lio shrugged.

“I suppose.” Galo nodded in return, fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves. “How’re we doing?”

“I think that’s it for the ones with the jacket.” He quickly checked the photos, sticking his tongue out. “Yeah, should be good. So let’s start by taking that off and see how we go from there.”

“Gotcha.” Galo unbuttoned the jacket and shrugged it off, folding it neatly over a nearby chair. He looked back to Lio, who immediately diverted his eyes. “Shall we?”

He chewed his lip for a moment, sighing through his nose. “Yeah.”

— ▲ ▼ ▲ —

This shoot took much longer than either of them expected — mostly on account of them being distracted too much talking to each other. Galo had learned that Lio lived in a small flat on the other side of town from him with a pet cat called Thyma, who he absolutely adored, and was a big fan of chicken pizza. They did end up doing a few of the shirtless shots, if only to say that they tried, and Lio seemed quite enthusiastic about the results of those in particular.

“Thanks for being a good sport, I know that was a lot of shooting.” Lio sighed once the last suit was done with, running his fingers through his hair and pulling it out of his face.

“Hey, don’t mention it. You’ve been great to work with.” Galo beamed in response, clapping his hand on Lio’s shoulder. “I appreciate the effort you’re putting in.”

“Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with a rather impressive subject.” He smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps, if you have the time, we could work together on a more personal project? Something for our portfolios, maybe.”

Galo froze for a moment, swallowing thickly. Lio's boldness had caught him off guard; Galo had been worrying so hard about making a mess of the shoot that he hadn’t even considered doing anything outside of studio work. “I’d… love that, actually. Do you want to take my details, and we’ll try to get something planned?”

“Absolutely. I also work freelance, so I’m not here all the time.” Lio chuckled, nodding at Galo. “Change out of that first, then we’ll talk numbers.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He stepped back into the booth and let out a heavy breath, staring at himself in the mirror. Galo prodded at his face, making sure his cheeks weren’t painting themselves red. He got back into his civilian clothes and stepped back into the studio. Lio was sitting at the back of the room, laptop on the desk in front of him as he cycled through the photos; Galo was drawn to the faint smile tugging at his lips, the way he slouched back in the chair, left leg tucked under the other, right foot swinging aimlessly in the air near the floor. It was much looser than the uptight persona Lio had put up on their first shoot the week before, and Galo wanted to see more of this carefree side of him. He carefully made his way over to Lio, gently leaning on the desk to announce his presence.

“Say, Lio.” Galo spoke quietly as to not spook him, only continuing when Lio fully turned his attention to him. “You mentioned a personal project; could I run an idea by you?” A nod. ”I’d like to… own my scars, make them a part of who I am and let people accept them for what they are. Maybe give other folks a push to do the same. Would that be something you’d be interested in?”

Lio hummed, pausing in the process of reaching over for a business card. He was quiet for a few moments, mulling Galo’s proposition over in his mind. “I have some time before the next client; let’s talk now, rather than later.” He tucked the card back into the holder on the desk and pushed the chair next to him towards Galo. “Come, take a seat. Show me what you’re thinking.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading~ Come shout with me about Promare on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/digialchem)!


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